MATERIAL HANDLING AND PROCESS IMPROVEMENT USING LEAN MANUFACTURING PRINCIPLES

Global competition has prompted companies to compete on the basis of Quality, Flexibility, Cost and Timely Deliveries. Lean manufacturing appears to hold considerable promise to address these competitive demands. Lean manufacturing was initiated within automotive industry, with the publication of Book "The Machine That Changed the World" (Womak, Jones, Roos, 1990) lean manufacturing practices have found acceptance in many industries. In this paper we describe the case where Lean Manufacturing was started. The objective was Process improvements using Lean Manufacturing Principles. Value stream mapping was used to find the scope of improvement in Material Handling. Team also used other lean tools such as 5S, Visual System, Process improvement (Continuous improvement) and Kanban. Results obtained were cycle time, distance and manpower reduction for material handling. Some floor area was also saved. Similar cycle time for certain assembly process was reduced. Andon system helped supervisors and group leader tackle the line problem immediately as they occur. Average output increased from 3.5 to 5 in period of 9 months.